posted Oct 29th, 2018 - NFTO, the British national team in 4-way Women, was one of the seven teams who attended both FAI events, first the World Championship in Australia, followed by the Indoor World Cup in Bahrain.

They won the silver medals at the outdoor competition with the complete lineup and Catherine Anderson in the point slot. Former Volition member Kate Lindsley was the alternate in Australia and then replaced Catherine Anderson who was not available for the indoor competition in Bahrain.

The gold medals in 4-way Women were available since France did not register the national world champion team in 4-way Women, Aerodyne Weembi, who had won the outdoor title in Australia. The French team in Bahrain was a young B-Team lineup who still won the silver medals for France in this category, six points ahead of Team X from Sweden, bronze medal winner in Australia.

NFTO did not only turn their bronze medals of 2016 into silver at Gold Coast. The combined leaderboard of the teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Women is showing that NFTO also outscored once again the British national team in 4-way Open, Satori XL, by one point after ten rounds.

FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Combined - Top 10		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	FR	29	-1	20		24		22		25		56	-1	23		18	-2	22		18	-1	257	25.7
4	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-2	14	-1	24	-1	21		22		53	-4	21	-1	18		20		17		234	23.4
6	Echochamber	SE	25	-1	16		21	-1	17	-2	20	-1	48	-4	14	-3	18		21	-1	15	-1	215	21.5
7	Amnesya	IT	24	-2	14		20	-1	18		18	-1	48	-5	18		14	-2	21	-1	15		210	21.0
8	NFTO	UK	20	-3	15		22	-1	19		18		38	-2	18		17		19		16		202	20.2
9	Satori XL	UK	21		14	-1	21		19		19		37	-3	19		17		18	-1	16	-1	201	20.1
9	Airheads	CH	22	-3	14	-2	19	-2	17	-1	18		44		16		16	-2	18	-1	17		201	20.1

NFTO had done exactly the same a few months earlier, with a 1-point advantage for the all-female team over Satori XL at the UK Nationals 2018, where only nine rounds were completed.

Satori XL member Pete Allum, one of the most experienced and successful 4-way competitors in the history of the sport, had given NFTO credit for the accomplishment already after the national championships:

"After 20+ years of winning gold medals at nationals and a few world meet medals, my team was just beaten by 1 point at UK nationals by NFTO.

We did our best nine jumps together but the team that beat us was simply better. First of all - about time! Secondly I am happy that it was by an all female team. Is this a good time to question the need to have a separate category in our amazing sport?

Although I understood the need to attract more females to our discipline, surely we have now reached the point when we can select our national team on pure ability and not differentiate based on gender. I recognize that this may not be the case in every country but in the uk we have invested a lot and have now demonstrated the level playing field that we were striving for."

NFTO followed up with another strong performance in Australia and confirmed the 4-way top spot in the United Kingdom with the second 1-point advantage, this time after ten rounds.

UK Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,C,12,14		7,Q,K,G		B,J,2,A		15,D,4		L,13,M,F		6,8,O		11,18,N		9,10,5		1,17,22		Total	Avg
1	NFTO	19		27		27	-1	16		25		19		16		19		17		185	20.6
2	Satori XL	18		27		25		18		25		18		17		19		17		184	20.4

Satori XL did not compete in Bahrain, where NFTO took the top spot in 4-way Women with a new indoor team record average and an 8th place on the combined 4-way leaderboard, only one point behind the British ACM Weembi indoor experts.

NFTO competed directly with two other British 4-way teams in 4-way Women. Zephyrus appeared for the first time in Bahrain under this team name, and Satori registered a female lineup for the indoor world cup.

The Satori lineup included original member Julia Swallow who had interrupted her skydiving career for two years after the 7th place and a 21.0 average at the FAI World Meet 2016. Pete Allum, Ian Hodgkinson and John McIver were in the Satori lineup at Skydive Chicago, with Gary Wainwright on canera.

Pete Allum and John McIver continued with Satori XL when Julia Swallow needed the break to grow her family. Now she is back in full action, including the activities of the Satori Academy. She said that tryouts for the 2019 season will be held during a skills camp at Skydive Algarve on December 21 - 22 and in Bedford on January 19 - 20.

The Satori Academy format will be the same as before, a 7-day training camp at Skydive Algarve, a 4-day camp at Skydive Hibaldstow and four hours of indoor training. She and John McIver will run the project and camps, with the help of Steve Hamilton: "We are really excited about it and have already had a lot of interest in all the categories wanting to join."

FAI Indoor World Cup 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		K,17,J,21		4,H,F,11		18,L,16		5,M,O,C		N,8,P,19		6,9,10		D,12,15		Q,B,G,22		20,E,14		7,3,2		Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	27	-2	26	-2	20	-1	37	-1	25		23		22		29	-2	22		23		254	25.4
2	France	FR	26		23	-1	20		36	-1	24		19	-1	19		26		17	-3	20		230	23.0
3	Team X	SE	24	-1	26		18	-2	31	-1	22		21	-2	16	-4	27		20		19	-1	224	22.4
4	China	CN	22	-1	20	-3	20		28	-2	23		22	-2	18	-1	24		20	-1	21		218	21.8
5	HF Chicks	CZ	25	-1	23	-1	15	-4	26	-4	23		21	-2	17		24	-4	21		21		216	21.6
6	Satori	UK	24		19	-1	18		31		18	-3	20		18		23		18	-1	19		208	20.8
7	Zero-G	RU	22	-1	22		17		27	-3	20		20		16	-1	22		16	-3	20	-1	202	20.2
8	Zephyrus	UK	12		12	-2	10		16		13		12		10		17		11		13		126	12.6